


Mary's Song

by captainkippen



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, Growing Up Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 23:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18839407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkippen/pseuds/captainkippen
Summary: Anonymous:hi how about mary’s song (oh my my my) by taylor swift and tyrus for the song inspired one shots! i love your writing <3TJ and Cyrus grew up together, fell in love, and lived happily ever after.





	Mary's Song

**_"And our daddies used to joke about the two of us_ **   
**_growing up and fallin' in love_ **   
**_and our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes_ **   
**_and said, 'Oh, my, my, my.'"_ **

 

*****

 

Cyrus was seven years old when TJ Kippen and his family moved in next door. Their first meeting wasn’t the smoothest, what with Cyrus accidentally running TJ down on his new bike and all, but it kicked off something incredible. They say the greatest romances are the kind you never expect but Cyrus wasn’t sure that was true.

Their dads built them the treehouse when they were eleven. It was a joint effort to give Cyrus and TJ somewhere to play that the adults could keep an eye on so they’d stop running into the street outside (too many narrow misses had occurred with Cyrus and cars) but it didn’t do much to stop the two from getting in trouble. It was an even sort of structure, twelve feet up in a tree that sat between the border of their two gardens, and perfectly safe as long as you didn’t jump down the ladder. They lit it old camping lamps and fairy lights dug out of the Goodman family’s garage so in the summer evenings when all the grownups were having drinks the boys could climb up and escape for a few hours in the dark.

At night, the treehouse was magical. It had an air of secrecy and enchantment that made it feel like stepping into another world altogether. Cyrus loved it more than any place he’d ever been and it was possible that TJ loved it even more. They would lie down in there and gaze at the stars, which peered out through the tall tree branches, talking about anything and everything. It was an unspoken agreement in the treehouse; a place of confidence. Any secrets you told would not leave those walls. It was safe.

“TJ?” Cyrus asked one night when they were twelve.

TJ turned his head and looked at Cyrus right in the eye, making his throat go dry and tight. That had been happening a lot lately, Cyrus couldn’t begin to explain why. The two of them laid side by side looking at the bright moon through the window. Reality felt miles away.

“Yeah?”

A pause while Cyrus mustered up the courage followed, but TJ waited patient as ever to hear him out.

He took a deep breath. “I. I think- I’m gay.”

“Oh. Okay,” TJ said, then turned away again.

Cyrus frowned. “Okay?”

“So you don’t have a crush on Andi then?” TJ asked, turning his eyes to stare at the ceiling. Andi was one of his best friends, a girl he’d known since elementary school, she was awesome but he couldn’t imagine having a crush on her. Cyrus stared at him. The tips of his ears were going red.

“No…” He said, then, “Do you?”

“What? No!”

“Okay… good,” Cyrus said slowly. “Glad we got that covered.”

There was another brief pause which might have been silent if it didn’t seem like Cyrus could almost hear the cogs in TJ’s brain working. He’d really thought his best friend might have something more to say about him coming out than ‘oh, okay’. In a strange way, he found himself a little annoyed at the lack of reaction. And why on earth would TJ think he had feelings for Andi?

“You know,” he said. “It’s okay if you do have a crush on Andi.”

“I don’t!”

He wasn’t sure he believed him.

TJ sat up a little, pushing up on to his elbows and turning to look at Cyrus again properly. “So… do you have a crush on anyone?”

Cyrus looked away to pick at his shoes and mumbled a negative. TJ narrowed his eyes.

“Liar,” he said, poking him. “Tell me the truth.”

Cyrus sighed. “Fine. I might… I kind of like Jonah.”

“Jonah Beck?!”

He nodded.

TJ groaned. “But he’s the worst. He totally hates me.”

“But he doesn’t hate me,” Cyrus said, struggling not to laugh at TJ’s expression. “‘Sides, he’d probably hate you less if you didn’t act like such an idiot around him.”

At that, TJ grabbed a pillow and thumped him with it. It was with the ensuing pillow fight that the conversation was brought to a staggering halt, and they spent the rest of the night clearing up stray feathers, promptly forgetting all discussion of crushes. Or at least, that was what happened for Cyrus. Unbeknownst to him, the thought of Cyrus liking Jonah lingered in TJ’s mind for many nights to come.

 

*****

 

Watching tiny white feathers flutter down out of the tree house window from where they were sat on the patio, the boys’ parents smiled and exchanged looks sweet amusement. Over the years, barbecues in the garden had become one of their favourite group past times. The Goodmans and Kippens were as good friends as their sons.

“One day those boys are going to grow up and get married,” Mr Kippen joked, listening to the distant sound of teenage laughter as he took a swig of his beer. “Attached at the hip they are.”

“Oh man, can you imagine the chaos they’d produce if they had kids?” Todd, Cyrus’ stepfather, laughed in return.

Neither of their wives laughed, they merely just looked at one another with identical knowing smiles, and Mrs Kippen rolled her eyes as she raised her wine glass.

“To our sons, for bringing us together,” she said, and it was with a great cheer that the rest of them clinked their glasses together in a toast.

 

*****

 

At fourteen, playing dares had become TJ’s favourite thing. He’d become friends with two boys, Lester and Reed, who were as reluctant to talk to Cyrus as he was to talk to them. They were the popular kind of boys known for being loud and obnoxious in class, causing trouble, and generally being a nuisance. The two of them gave him an uneasy feeling, but he didn’t dare voice that to TJ. He didn’t want to be seen as uncool. Sometimes he wished he had the courage to - it might have stopped TJ from dragging him to all their awful hangouts.

There was one day in particular spent out on the dirt tracks where the bikers spent their time, Reed and Lester smoked and TJ talked to them about something incomprehensible to Cyrus while he hung back and watched on with thinly veiled disgust. An hour in a couple of unfamiliar girls showed up and it was no time at all before Reed was rounding them all up into a circle on the ground, announcing they were going to play truth or dare, which made TJ grin wildly. The uneasy feeling was a firm brick in Cyrus’ stomach. He wanted to go home and watch the collection of terrible eighties movies that TJ’s dad had dug out of the garage for them last week. Sitting in the dirt with a group of people he didn’t trust was not his first choice on how to spend a Saturday, especially with a sleepover game involved.

“You in, Goodman?” Reed asked. There was a challenge in his tone that made Cyrus want to tell him to go shove it, but instead, he just sighed.

“I’m in.”

He should’ve known Reed was up to no good.

Two rounds in, and that’s when it happened. He heard the words, but didn’t really register them, he’d been a little zoned out with boredom. Then TJ was leaning towards him, saying something, and at first Cyrus just nodded in confusion. Then, TJ reached up to cup his face and he pulled away startled.

TJ had been dared to kiss him.

“ _Igottago_ ,” Is all that he could say as he jumped up and sprinted away, his heart pounding, and he could hear TJ shouting after him as he went. He didn’t stop. He ran all the way home.

Later, and by later I mean by about half an hour, TJ found him hiding in the treehouse under a pile of blankets.

“Cy?” He asked quietly.

Cyrus lowered the blanket from his face to peer at him. TJ looked shamefaced, shuffling his feet awkwardly and biting at a hangnail. Guilt sat heavy in his eyes. They looked at one another in silence for a moment before TJ sat down with a sigh.

“I can’t believe you ran this whole way,” he complained. “How did your lungs not give out?”

“I’m good at running away from my problems,” Cyrus joked half-heartedly. “You know that.”

“You don’t usually run away from me though.”

“You’re not usually a problem.”

TJ let out a huff and grabbed the edge of the blanket Cyrus was tucked under, wiggling until he was shoved up against him and blanketed neatly under it too. He lay on his side, one eyebrow raised and looking at his friend, while Cyrus stared at the wall ahead unwilling to meet his eye.

“Wanna tell me what that was about?”

“Not really.”

“Cy.”

“Ugh. Fine. I just… I don’t like your friends, okay?”

TJ snorted. “Yeah. I figured that out, but don’t deflect I know that’s not what this as about. C’mon, talk to me. You know you can tell me anything.”

That was the annoying thing, Cyrus knew he was right. He rolled on to his side, only a little reluctant, to look at him as he spoke.

“I didn’t want my first kiss to be a dare.”

TJ frowned. “You haven’t had your first kiss?”

“Don’t you think I would’ve told you?”

“Oh. I just- I don’t know, I just thought that time we played seven minutes in heaven at Andi’s… you and Jonah might’ve- I thought you guys kissed.”

“We didn’t.”

The guilt in TJ’s eyes returned. “Hm.”

“I would’ve told you,” Cyrus said quietly.

It was another few moments before Cyrus mustered up the nerve to speak again.

“I want it to be with someone who loves me.”

“What?”

“My first kiss. I… I just want it to mean something, you know? I don’t want it to be done because of a dare.”

TJ smiled. “Yeah, I get you. I’m sorry about all that.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. And don’t worry, I won’t make you hang out with Reed anymore. I know you don’t like him… I guess I just kind of wanted you guys to get along, you know?”

“I’m sorry,” Cyrus said. “I tried. I really did.”

“I know. It’s okay, not everyone gets along all the time,” TJ said, then he paused. “Cy?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, you said you wanted your first kiss to be someone who loved you.”

“Yeah.”

“I love you.”

Cyrus stared at him.

“I’m just sayin’, if you wanted to get your first kiss out of the way, I could…”

“You’re offering to kiss me?”

TJ shrugged at him and grinned. “Nobody better to have your first kiss with than the person who knows you best in the world, plus I know I’m cute. You could do a lot worse.”

Cyrus snorted. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“I do.”

The kiss was lovely as far as first kisses go. Soft, tingling, and the kind of kiss that made you warm from your cheeks down to your toes. In the future, the memory of it would keep Cyrus awake at night while he touched his lips and thought about the way TJ’s hair fell into his face when he laughed. It was beautiful.

They ended up falling asleep up there together, eyes drifting closed from the hazy warmth, and didn’t wake up until they were called in for dinner.

 

*****

 

At seventeen, Cyrus and TJ had their first serious fight. It was late at night, coming back from a party, and they both sat in the front of TJ’s truck with the anger threatening to boil over any moment. Their friends sat in awkward silence in the back, rolling out of there as fast as they could when TJ pulled up outside of Andi’s house and slammed the doors shut after themselves as they raced to get away.

TJ cut off the engine. Cyrus folded his arms and stared straight ahead. They had reached a stalemate in terms of progress - Cyrus wasn’t sure he wouldn’t curse TJ out if he spoke and TJ wasn’t sure he wouldn’t say something regrettably mean if he didn’t calm down first. It took a few minutes before he finally broke the silence.

“You don’t get to be mad about this,” he said, voice controlled as he gripped the steering wheel in a tight grip.

Cyrus turned and looked at him with an expression of disbelief. “I don’t get to be mad about this? Are you serious?”

“It’s none of your business,” TJ fired back.

Cyrus let out a dry laugh void of any humour. “None of my business? It’s my friend that you’re cheating on-”

“I told you already that I didn’t-”

“-don’t tell me you weren’t because I saw-”

“-cheating on Natalie because we-”

“-you kissing Kira. You were literally making out in the bathroom with her-”

“-broke up!”

Their bickering ceased immediately and Cyrus frowned.

“What?”

“Me and Natalie,” TJ said ground out, refusing to meet Cyrus’ eye. “Broke up.”

“…Seriously?”

He nodded.

“When?”

“Like two days ago, I don’t know,” TJ sighed.

The anger in the set of Cyrus’ shoulders fizzled out and he relaxed, reaching out to put a comforting hand on TJ’s arm.

“What happened?”

TJ lifted his shoulders in a small shrug and leaned back. “I don’t know. Stuff. She said I was too distracted… that I needed to figure my shit out. Told me I didn’t really love her.”

Cyrus made a sympathetic noise and tried to ignore the feeling of secret joy rattling around in his chest. Now was not the time to be happy that TJ was single. He was clearly upset. He needed his friend there for him.

“I’m sorry. That really sucks,” He said. “…How come you didn’t you tell me?”

TJ shrugged again.

Cyrus pulled back and rested his head against the back of the seat. “So… you and Kira?”

“Not a thing,” TJ reassured him. “I was just trying something.”

“Oh?”

He sighed, Cyrus gave him a curious look.

“I think Natalie was right,” TJ said. “I had stuff to figure out.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

He half expected TJ to say no. Over the past couple of years, his friend had become less and less likely to talk about anything related to feelings. Cyrus didn’t like it but he had learned to live with it. As long as TJ told him the really important stuff then it was fine. That was why he was surprised when TJ next spoke.

“How d’you know if you love someone?” He asked.

Cyrus blinked at him. “I guess it depends on the kind of love.”

“Like… love love. Romance, marriage, valentines kind of love.”

Cyrus wanted to say he didn’t know, but he also knew he couldn’t lie to TJ. He knew firsthand that being in love felt like you were tripping over your own heart, again and again, every day. It felt like fire and devotion and hopelessness. It was awful and perfect at the same time.

“You just do, I guess,” Is what he told him instead.

TJ wet his lips - his most noticeable nervous tick.

“Why do you ask?”

“I think Natalie was right about me not loving her,” TJ said, then swallowed hard. “‘Cause I think I’m in love with someone else.”

Cyrus’ heart broke in two. He looked away. “Oh.”

“Cyrus.”

It took him a moment, but he forced himself to look at TJ. The look in TJ’s eyes was nothing like what he’d expected. It was open, unadulterated honesty. Perfect, lovely, and lonely all at once. Cyrus had seen that look on his own face in pictures of them together. He recognised it at once.

It was love.

Their second kiss was as perfect as the first, with more desperation and longing than they could’ve put into any sentences they said that night. It was the promise of a future, a vow protecting their past, and a mark of everything they had shared so far.

 

 

*****

Their wedding was beautiful. It was held in the Goodmans’ back garden, treehouse in view, with all their closest friends and relatives packed in to watch them tie the knot. Cyrus cried outright, TJ tried not to and failed at the sight of both of their mothers shedding a tear, and when they said their vows they both knew they meant every word of them deep in their bones.

Todd clapped TJ on the back and told him he was excited to see the two of them build a tree house of their own, and when the line for giving congratulations had finally died down TJ and Cyrus managed to sneak up the tree themselves for a few minutes alone.

They laid down on the dusty old floor and looked out at the sunlight filtering through the trees.

“I can’t wait to spend my life with you,” TJ whispered, taking Cyrus’ hand.

Cyrus squeezed his fingers in response and, with a soft smile, he said in return, “Me too. Hey, you remember that time we were in here and you asked if I had a crush on anyone?”

TJ snorted. “Yeah, and you said Jonah.”

Cyrus laughed. “Yeah, well… I have a secret to tell you.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t Jonah. It was you.”

 

*****

 

Cyrus was twenty-seven years old when he and TJ moved into their new house. They say the greatest romances are the kind you never expect but after twenty years of back and forth flirtations, shared memories, and stolen kisses, Cyrus came to believe the best romances were the ones you should have seen coming from a mile away.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Send me prompts and oneshot requests at @captainkippen on tumblr.
> 
> See my other tumblr fics [here](https://captainkippen.tumblr.com/post/184558151853/aarons-andi-mack-fic-masterlist-ao3-chaptered)


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